photo
caption:MOVIE-MAKING: Director of
photography Elliot Davis, behind camera, and Director Catherine
Hardwicke, right, are shown on the set of "Thirteen,"
a film that was completed in only 24 days.end
caption.nd of caption

"Thirteen":
Once Troubled Adolescent Writes and Stars in Film

Review
by Kam Williams

One can't help but observe that children
are growing up faster then ever nowadays. A combination of absentee
parenting, unmonitored cable-TV viewing, unrestricted internet
surfing and undue peer pressure has been leading many a pre-pubescent
junior high schooler down a dangerous and destructive path of
experimentation with sex, drugs, alcohol, tattoos and body piercings.

Nikki
Reed was just such an L.A. latchkey kid in crisis, when she was
lucky enough to have Catherine Hardwicke take an interest in her.
Hardwicke, an ex-girlfriend of the youngster's father, had become
alarmed by some rather dramatic changes in the 13-year-old's personality.
Nikki had suddenly become angry and uncommunicative, and also
began to devote countless hours to her appearance.

To get
to the bottom of the problem, Hardwicke decided to spend more
time with Nikki, suggesting several artistic avenues as a means
of enabling the troubled teen to share what was going on inside
her. Little did either of them know that the sessions would lead
to their collaborating on a critically acclaimed feature film.
Thirteen marks both Hardwicke's directorial debut and the recovered
Reed's acting debut, the latter made at the still tender age of
only 14. The screenplay, written by the two in tandem, is based
on actual events in the life of Nikki and her circle of friends.

Hardwicke
won Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival for this independently
produced flick, in spite of its low production values. This super-realistic
movie is marked by very distinctive, deliberately grainy looking
cinematography, due to every shot being caught via a hand-held
camera. But this only adds to the plausibility of the graphic
scenarios being depicted on screen, as this semi-autobiographical
entry tends to get uncomfortably intimate with its underage leads
as they indulge in all manner of ill-advised and illicit behaviors.

To
her credit, unproven Hardwicke managed to attract a top-flight
cast to this micro-budgeted melodrama made in only 24 days. Thus,
the dramatis personae includes Oscar-winner Holly Hunter as Melanie,
our heroine's clueless, irresponsible mother. Also aboard is the
recently-turned 16 Evan Rachel Wood, who is probably best known
as Jesse of the ABC-TV series Once and Again. Ms. Wood appears
as Tracy, the ne'er-do-well best friend who leads the way on the
road to ruin.

Thirteen's cinema as therapy approach is certain
to stir up considerable debate among parents trying to decide
whether to allow their own children to see such an uncompromisingly
frank movie. On its behalf, I must note that although the film
understandably earned an R rating, no one dies, or even ends up
in jail or the hospital. Plus, its protagonist, in more lucid
moments, is given to some sensitive, childlike insights like,
"If everyone marries someone from a different race, then
in one generation, there'd be no prejudice."

Yet, it
is simultaneously unsettling to watch the same barely-weaned adolescent
parade around in "I wanna bone" panties or curse out
her mom mercilessly. I can't say whether Thirteen represents statutory
voyeurism or a cautionary passion play, but I do know compelling
cinema when I see it.